It saddened everyone when the BBC made the retarded move to cut ‘Tales From The Legend’ from their already misrepresentative schedule ‘dedicated’ to black music, but luckily Excalibah isn’t intending to disappear. Rumours are already floating around that he’s in talks with a big radio station to make a return to our airwaves, and he’s been putting in interviews all over the shop so we don’t forget him. And with this mix CD, compiling a large range of very dope tracks, how could we?

Just incase you’ve been living under a rock, here’s the score. A dubstate is simply an MC from the UK, rapping over a beat from the US. Each week a new dubstate would be played on Ex’s radio show, and for the rest of the week people’d be discussing it. This CD’s a collection of the best. The list is almost a who’s who of the UK scene right now. From established artists like Taskforce and Braintax, to more recent names like Sway and Micall Parnsun, it’s a fantastic listen which is very much suited for playing loud at the yard or in the car. As for the packaging, that’s dope too, with a really cool take off of the famous A-Z map book.

It’s hard to call out the best of the dubstates because there’s so many decent ones. Plan B’s is perhaps particularly interesting as he’s on the verge of blowing up and becoming ‘urban’ music’s next media darling. Kyza’s verses over ‘Tush’ by Missy Elliot and Ghostface Killah further demonstrates why he’s one of the most capable Mc’s in the UK, whilst spots by Yogi and Manage remind us that there’s more talent beyond the familiar names which people spend most of the time talking about.

Throughout the CD, the mix’s host, a typical cockney character that sounds straight outta Albert Square, get a bit annoying but it’s not bad enough to ruin the enjoyment of the release. Let’s hope Ex gets on the air again soon so we can have more servings of dubstate down the line.